1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sliding clasp fasteners and to garments, articles and sheeting having such fasteners.
2. Prior Art
It is known to provide protective garments, such as survival or exposure suits, with a sliding clasp continuous fastener of the kind comprised of two parts each comprising a row of fastening elements secured to a strip of flexible material and a slider which is movable along the rows from one end to the other and is operative on movement in the closing direction to bring the elements of the two rows into interlocking engagement and so to close the fastener and on movement in the opening direction to separate the elements of the two rows. Such fasteners are capable of providing a substantially fluid tight closure along the fastener when the two parts are closed together. Examples of such a fastener are disclosed in British Pat. Nos. 879,771, 940,061 and 1,201,290 and its use is of considerable practical value in that it enables a large opening in a flexible article such as a protective suit to be readily opened and closed in a fluid tight manner.
However, it is often advantageous to employ an open ended fastener which has the two flexible strips separable at the end when the slider has been moved in the opening direction away from that end to open the fastener. Moreover, a separable fastener of which the two parts are separable at both ends of the fastener when the elements are disengaged by the slider has the advantage that the two parts may be entirely separated. Both such kinds of fasteners are, of course, well known but a problem arises when it is necessary, as in a protective suit, to provide an acceptable fluid tight seal at the or each open end longitudinally of the fastener. British Pat. No. 913,113 describes means for sealing two or more adjacent ends of fluid tight sliding clasp open ended or separable continuous fasteners. This invention is concerned with supplying a solution to the problem of sealing a single end of either such type of fastener against fluid pressure acting longitudinally of the fastener.